English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, midway through his two-month "Clocking in Across America" tour, delivered a blend of his older standards with cuts from his newest album last night before a near-sellout crowd at Mud Island Amphitheater.
Aloof and far from flashy as either a guitarist or a vocalist, the popular New Wave artist nonetheless roused his predominantly young audience of about 4,000 with his hard-driving sound and his biting, sometimes berating lyrics.
Costello, making his sixth American tour in as many years, is traveling with a seven-piece backup and support group, Aztec Camera. The concert was peppered with samplings from his newly released ninth album, Punch the Clock.
The enigmatic artist, dressed in red shoes and characteristic mismatched suit, was bathed in colored lights that contrasted effectively with those on his backup group. Costello spoke little and barely moved from the microphone.
He started off the evening in high-powered fashion with fast-paced numbers with brass backup. The energy continued most of the night, in such numbers as "Kid About It," or "Pump It Up" from his best-selling, four-year-old Armed Forces album.
However, Costello was just as effective in the slower, more laid-back "Shipbuilding" track from his newest LP. In keeping with Costello's passion for commentary on social issues, "Shipbuilding" comments on the Falklands war.
Punch the Clock also features "Everyday I Write the Book" (with backup vocal duet Afrodiziak) and "Pills and Soap," a hit that was controversial in England because of Costello's observations on that country's general elections last spring.
Raised in Liverpool, England, the 29-year-old performer emerged as a headliner with his earliest tours in the United States in the late 70s, squarely on the cutting edge of New Wave's rise in popularity.
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